“Survey after survey shows that Americans want to remain in their own homes as they get older; it’s called ‘aging in place.’ Failing that, they’d like to live in someone else’s home – just not an institutional nursing home. Turns out, you may be able to make some money from this wish by launching a home-sharing operation or just renting out part of your own home.

Here’s the basic idea. Home-sharing programs — often managed by nonprofits — match older homeowners (sometimes empty nesters) who could use extra income with older local people looking for a reduced rent, usually in exchange for helping around the house. For instance, monthly apartment rents in Ann Arbor, Mich. average $1,300 to $1,400 a month, while the average home-share rent is $400 to $500, says Kim McKitrick-Thompson, head of the Housing Bureau for Seniors HomeShare Program in Ann Arbor, Mich.”

What is it like to share your home?

“Earl Roy, 81, lives in Ann Arbor, Mich. and has shared his home with several housemates over the past five years or so. ‘It has worked out for me,’ he says.

Roy, a former civil engineer who spent most of his career building and maintaining supermarkets, wanted to stay in his home. His wife didn’t. So they separated and she moved into a small condo complex in town. But Roy couldn’t afford to keep his place without extra cash to pay for it. He turned to the area’s Seniors HomeShare Program to match him up with renters.

‘I needed the income,’ he says. ‘And I don’t really like living by myself.’